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You know when you're at work, going about your business, perhaps flirting a little with the guy you’ve got a crush on, and then Wham! you're hit right between the eyes with the news that you’re now first in line to the throne of a small European country?
No one? Just me then?
That was my yesterday. My today involves me being on a private jet, with everything around me covered in royal monograms, from the headrests to the napkins to the staff’s lapels, winging my way from my familiar Texas home to Malveaux, a country on the Adriatic Sea that I haven’t visited since I was a child.
It’s a lot.
Of course Undertaker #1 and Undertaker #2 are here, too, sporting their black ensembles and looking appropriately grim. No change there. Those two—real names Vladimir and Gino as it turns out—have been my constant companions since they sprung the “you're needed in Malveaux as the next heir to the throne” thing on me.
Apparently, one of them picked me up when I fainted, carrying me to the state vehicle parked outside the office block, complete with little gilded flags on either side of the hood and blacked out windows. He was trailed by an outraged Chloe, who insisted on accompanying me to The Houstonian, one of the city’s swankiest hotels, where they had the presidential suite waiting for me.
The presidential suite, people!
I lean back in my leather airplane seat and rub my forehead, “How did we not see this coming?” I ask Dad.
“We thought Nicolas would inherit, and his children after him. Your mom was totally out of the picture.”
“But Uncle Nicolas didn’t have kids.”
“That’s right. Unfortunately, his marriage fell apart years ago and he hasn’t remarried.” He reaches across the table and takes my hand in his. “Honey, I know this is a lot to take in right now. It’s not how I thought this would go.”
“Really? How did you think it would go exactly, Dad?”
“I didn’t think Nicolas would abdicate, for starters. Look, your mom left Malveaux because she’d fallen in love with me and she didn't want us to lead a royal life. I sure as heck didn’t want one, either. She persuaded her parents—your Grandpapa and Grandmama—that the family didn't need her.”
“What's so wrong with living in Malveaux and being royal that neither of you wanted it?”
“I think it was less about what was wrong with that and more about what was right with living with me in Houston.”
“Did my grandparents not like you or something? ‘That horrible man from Texas’.”
“We’re fine, even though they did think I took their daughter from her duty.”
“Which you did.”
“Love is a very powerful thing.”
I roll my eyes. “Daughter here, remember?”
“They weren’t thrilled your mom left, but they understood. Not everyone is born into the life they’re given. Some need to search for that life on their own.”
His words ring all too true for me. I might not have felt like I was living the life I was meant to before today, but do I want the life I’m literally flying toward now?
I bite down on my lip as I gaze out the window at the cloudless sky.
“Your mom gave up a lot for us, honey.”
I press my lips together as a lump forms in my throat. I have only fuzzy memories of my mom. I was nine years old when she died, so I should remember more, and it saddens me that I don't. I remember her smile, the way the skin around her eyes crinkled, her floral scent. Most of all, I remember her wearing a navy-blue dress with white polka dots that brought out the color of her eyes. Blue, just like mine. It had a lace trim and white piping around the waist. I remember her standing on the patio, laughing at something someone said. I remember how happy she was, how full of life.
“I never thought this day would come, princess,” Dad says in a soft voice. He smiles. “Huh. I guess I need to say that for real now. Princess Maddie.”
I shake my head. “It’s so surreal, Dad. One day I'm me, and the next day I'm supposed to be this totally different person. And not just any person, a royal person from a country that sounds like it’s from a fairy tale.”
“You don’t remember our vacations there?”
“I remember my grandparents and Uncle Nicolas, of course, and the super ornate gardens with lots of hedges and statues. And I had a room with a canopy that initially I thought looked wonderful, but totally freaked me out at night. I thought a monster was going to jump out and attack me.”
“You did have nightmares, and the next time we visited, they took down the canopy for you.”
